The Case of the Theater of Youth
by Chagrins
Summary: Ran gets a lead role in a play. All seems to go well until a mysterious man poisons the crew of actors, turning them all into children. Can Conan save the day?
1. Ran gets a part in the play

Disclaimer: If I owned Detective Conan, you bet I'd use this idea for one of the episodes!  
And if I were a genius like Neil Simon…. Well… heheh… fill in the blanks

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The Case of the Theater of Youth

Notes: tee-hee.. I'm kinda liking this.. but you tell me..

Teaser:

"No, Conan-kun! I want it!" Her face started to deepen into a crimson red, and tears began to bawl out from her eyes, "It's mine!!"

* * *

"There comes a time when dormancy must reach its demise." A blonde haired man smirked, "And another for occurrences that are completely opposite in nature." 

He pulled on a rope and gas began to move through the air.

* * *

Snow was lightly hitting the ground, adding to the already thin layer of accumulating fluff. The day was young; the morning was fresh. It was the time of day that people could easily open up their eyes and welcome another day of life. It was the perfect moment to begin anew; sunlight was reaching the senses of all humans alike, rising to their brains and up through their nerves, giving them a sense of happiness that even the cold, brisk air couldn't take away. Surrounding everyone were dense, evergreen trees, those showing some tints of gray. They appeared to have lighter greens speckled between their branches, all due to the falling snow that had latched on to the individual branches. People were lively and energetic, as the sun, underlying the clouds, managed to get its rays out into the scene to wake up all of earth's inhabitants on this lovely day. The sun was their calling, as the snow was the unknown boundary keeping everyone on their highest alert. 

Two figures stood outside of an apartment complex, both seeming as if they were waiting for something important to happen. Suddenly, the snow stopped.

"Conan-kun!" Conan looked up at the young lady holding his hand. She almost appeared lost in her own thoughts, though she was speaking to him now. She didn't even look down at him; she set her sights way above even the tallest building on their block. He watched as she shook the excess snow off of her shoulders, and the tip top of her head. Each movement seemed to keep his attention, though this was unbeknownst to her, for he still loved each and every part about her. Especially after living as Conan and being with her for as long as he had.

Realizing the pause he had created due to his delay in a response, he finally spoke up.

"What is it, Ran-neechan?"

She brought her head to look down at him, as a smile crept up on her face.

"I want you to know that I'm about to take a big step in my life.. And.. when I take this step, I want you to be there right along with me, Conan" The words were meant congenially, yet they managed to hit him like ice. Suddenly his heart began to beat faster. A big step. For words like that it could only mean one thing: Ran got a boyfriend..

He was just poor paranoid Conan. Though he does deserve a large amount of credit nonetheless. It's not every day that a person gets maliciously turned into a little kid only to find out that the potential love of their life may feel exactly the same way. At this point he had been stuck as an eight year old for almost a year now, and for some reason it seemed to him as if the longer he was out of his real form the more this special girl seemed to care for what she couldn't have.

"Ran-neechan.. What is it that you're about to do?" He feared the worst; tears almost sprang to his eyes, though he fought his hardest to keep them back.

"You'll be really happy for me, Conan!" The excitement in her voice grew, leading her into a more eccentric tone, "I'm about to be in a play!!"

Conan's eyes widened. _Not what I thought.. Whew._ A sweat drop grew on his face. Then when it hit him what she was actually doing, a smile of pride lit up on his face.

"Wow! A play? Which one?" He asked, purposely trying to act just a tad childish, filled with excitement and wonder. "When did you get involved with that, Ran-neechan??"

She smirked.

"I'm in a play called "Fools" by Neil Simon. I auditioned for the directors last week.. right after I got off of school. But it wasn't until today that they called me up to let me know that I'd made it in! In fact, I'm one of the leads, too! The character's name is Sophia." She continued on, matter-of-fact-ly, "I actually didn't think I would get in... but it was kinda funny.. When I told them a little about myself, they seemed very interested to hear that I was taking care of you, Conan. You're only eight years old and already your name is starting to get out there!"

She suddenly dropped down to give Conan a hug, squeezing him extra tight.

"It's always been my dream to act, Conan.. I don't know that anyone else ever knew that about me.. I mean, me acting? I always put up such a different image than any of that.."

Her eyes again seemed to focus away from reality, "I just wish Shinichi were here. I bet you and him are the only two people I would ever be so willing to talk to about this.. I mean, there were certain times I put up an image in front of him, too, but I could always tell him anything... well, almost anything," She sighed, "Shinichi.. If only I had told you how much I cared about you when I had the chance.." Tears began to spring to her eyes.

"Ran-neechan, you will have the chance! He'll be back one of these days! Just don't forget about him.."

"Forget Shinichi? Never! Which is why for both of our sakes I hope he comes back soon.. I really miss him." At this point she was still clinging onto Conan. The Shinichi inside of him wanted to lash out, to reveal all that was still held concealed in his heart. He wanted to kiss away the tears of the one he so desired, to finally be himself again!

But he knew that no matter what he had to kept his true identity a secret. _Sigh.._

_Oh, Ran..._ _Just hold on a little longer, I'll be there for you one day! And that day I will never leave you again!_

"Ran.." He finally said, "Shinichi cared for you too much to not come back for you.. I know he will." And, with a bit of hesitation, trying to act as innocent as possible, he took his sleeve and wiped the tears from her eyes.

It was a Saturday morning and what had begun as a journey to the grocery store to get food for that night, ended before it even began, right outside of Ran's home. They stayed there for hours before going anywhere else that day. She had Conan. And Conan would always have her.

Between them they held a certain, unbreakable connection.

* * *

(TO BE CONTINUED) 

Note: Please don't freak out on me! Unlike my last Detective Conan fic (which I will update, too, don't worry!), this one will be updated a lot more frequently... and with BETTER stuff, too! The last fic was kinda my filler... a jump starter, so to speak.. But I seriously am liking this one. I'm feeling it, lol, hehehe... and... just for the references this chapter was more or less the intro.

Comments are mucho appreciated! Criticism is my best friend!  
-Chagrins


	2. Play Practice

11/30/04 Note: GRR! lol, I've had this done for awhile now.... but wouldn't let me post. It was frustrating o.o;; ...any ways, I just had a birthday. I'm now 17. woot. I kinda feel exactly the same... yet strangely different because 17 is really close to 18...

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The Case of the Theater of Youth

Part 2: Play Practice

Note: Hit up the review button everybody! I'm interested to see how this turns out..

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There was a room filled with nothing but a lone computer and randomly scattered files. These files decked the floor and threatened the bare walls, as many were stacked high and pushed against as much wall space as possible. It was as if somebody was attempting to keep the place looking organized, yet to no avail. There was no lighting, except to say that the computer (that was plugged in to the one and only outlet in the room) gave off a dim blue light, making a certain radius around it glow just a little. A man's back was turned towards the door, as the man sat fastened to the computer. If any had gotten a closer look, they would have seen the giant pleasure in his eyes.

On the computer screen he had up the diagram of a human brain. Something finally clicked inside his head through looking at this picture.

"And now it is complete..." He lowly laughed (almost mechanically) to himself, grabbing a pen out of his left pocket so that he could write something down and add to one of the files he had beside him.

* * *

It had been a few weeks since Ran had made it into her first play. At first she had no idea what to expect, but by this point there were a lot of things she had realized about acting. Number one, that each director had something that he was looking for in the play that he was about to direct. In this particular play her director had aimed at getting young adults to play the parts, between the ages of 16 and 22, and he wanted the production lively and loose. Ran herself was obviously 17, and the guy that played her love interest was only 18. The cast and crew were by no means professionals. She learned that this director in particular was big on cutting people their first real break so that they could theoretically get the experience they needed to move on to bigger and better things. Of course, those that were cast he made sure he saw some potential in, but as long as there was that he wasn't particularly picky about who he hired.

Ran actually had quite the knowledge bank when it came to acting, despite her lack of being in a lot of plays. Sure, this was her first role in a play, but she had auditioned time and time again for different productions. No one ever seemed to give her a chance, or the competition was always too high to begin with. But in the past few weeks Ran had really gotten the hang of things. Though it had only been a few weeks, she already started to notice that her acting was improving a great deal. This part had really opened her up...

"Come on Conan.." Ran lead her little friend into the auditorium of the theater where her play was going on, and helped him to find a seat. "Now, be good, okay? I brought you here so that you could watch my play, since you seemed so interested. If you get bored the theater isn't far from home.. but just promise me that if you wanna leave you'll just leave, and not make a racket. The director won't be happy and probably will say no to you coming by anymore."

Conan waved her off, trying to hide his annoyance at how parental she was acting. He knew that he wouldn't act up unless he was given a good reason. But it seemed to him that whenever he was given a good reason, it always appeared to Ran and to any other adult that he was just being a normal 8 year old and whining about absolutely nothing. But no, whenever Conan made the slightest complaint, it usually dealt with him trying to stop somebody that was getting away with things that no one else seemed to be catching. Sigh. The life of a poisoned 17 year old...

He watched as Ran left him there and seemed to rush backstage to get ready to start. Other members of the play soon appeared, walking past him where he sat in the theater. They all, like Ran, made their way up to the stage and cleared their throats, ready to begin today's practice. This was Conan's first time here and so he was excited to get a glimpse at what Ran did every other day when she had this play practice of hers. As Shinichi he had been too busy doing his detective work (not to mention school work on the side) to ever get out to the theater much. But what really boggled his mind was how enthused Ran seemed to be over this. After knowing her for most of his life, when did this happen?

As the group all started their practice, it seemed to Conan that detective work was to him what this acting was to Ran. She really put her heart into this, and everyone could tell. Even the director seemed proud of her.

"For this next scene," He started, "Even though this is a comedy, it's gotta be deep." He watched as everyone left except for Ran and another male, who Conan suspected as her love interest in the play. He couldn't help the fact that this kinda made him jealous.

He watched as Ran got up onto a plastic platform, that which represented a balcony, and how the male followed her over, about to start his lines.

"Oh, Sophia... I don't think I've ever felt this way." Conan's eyes lit up, "We've got to find a way to break this curse.." Conan had heard enough about the play to realize what they were talking about. It was about a bunch of people who were all cursed with stupidity. Leon, the guy with Ran at the present moment, was an outsider who had come in to teach Ran's character, Sophia. In the process of teaching her, Leon falls in love with her. _Not a hard thing to do with Ran... _Conan thought. All the same, after he falls in love with her he decides that he must break the curse for everyone's sake.

'Sophia' and 'Leon' continued to converse. Suddenly, the male actor jumped up onto the balcony and kissed Ran. Conan could tell that Ran looked taken aback, which definitely broke her character.

"CUT!" The director yelled, stopping the production, "What was that? The kiss has gotta be.... bigger!" He waved his arms around crazily, as if that would help him demonstrate his point.

"Umm.. I just didn't think we'd be putting in that kiss until we were closer to the actual performance." Ran said.

"No, no, no! We must start now... I know most director's don't do it this way, but I'm a big believer that everything must be rehearsed well in advance! Down to the last, tiniest kiss!"

"All right, sir." Ran sighed. Conan looked up to Ran and was about to protest, when she caught his eye in the audience and signaled him that everything would be all right.

"Okay. Let's try this again.. Leon, say you're last line again before that kiss!"

After taking his position back on the stage, the male actor said his line before jumping back up on the balcony and getting closer to Ran. He then leaned in for the kiss. Though opposed to just a peck on the lips, this guy wrapped his right arm around Ran and brought her against his chest. He planted his lips upon hers, and seemed as if he would never break this non-mutual kiss. Perhaps he didn't notice it, but the whole time Ran was trying to get out of it; the only thing that stopped her from really backing out was the fact that her acting career was potentially on the line, or else she would have certainly slapped this jerk. Well, she still had time to do that later..

Conan on the other hand was infuriated. Here was someone he valued more than anyone else, and he was practically forced to allow and watch another man take advantage of her, for surely this guy was. If only he was still Shinichi.. then he would never have allowed this to go on. But in the form of Conan he was powerless over certain things. And when it came to getting people's attention, he was overly bad at that. The only way he ever did that was to cause a scene, which he promised Ran he wouldn't do.

Finally, after years (it seemed) for both Conan and Ran, the director cut the scene.

"All right. Wonderfully done, Charles." _Ah, so the jerk has a name..._ Conan thought as the director continued, "Moving along... let's cut to the end of the wedding scene. This is when the curse is about to be lifted... and I wanted to choreograph the fall that all of you take.. since everyone will be on stage at this point."

Conan watched as the director moved up to the stage and started to show everyone where to stand. The director was a short and stout fellow, with a deep and raspy voice. He had a five o'clock shadow, but nothing more, that seemed to tell everyone that he was a busy man who couldn't get everything done that he wanted to. To say that this is true would be accurate, except for the fact that the reason that he never got most things done is because he was always too involved with acting. Either he was putting on a show or he was being in one.. but there was nothing else more important to this man than his acting. He was a washed away man who once had such high aspirations, only to end up stuck doing minor play productions and producing plays along similar importance.

Finally, Conan noticed, the man finished directing his pupils.

"Okay, so.. let's take it from where Leon and Sophia take their vows.." Conan scoffed almost sardonically..

The scene went through and then suddenly a loud noise went off. When Conan heard it, his head began to pound. It was rather loud. Suddenly he felt very faint and tired. Things began to spin. He tried to sit up in his seat, but that only made him even weaker. Time seemed to stop. Everything seemed to get 100 times slower. As things went blurry, he noticed the rest of the cast fall over as they were previously instructed. But no one seemed to be getting up..

It all went black.

* * *

It seemed as if years had passed. It was one of those sleeps where you become so out of it that you forget the conditions under which you passed into slumber. You forget where you were when it happened, how tired you were, when it was, and what day it was supposed to be now. Conan didn't like this. He half expected to wake up in the room he had at Ran's. And when he woke up in the theater, he thought he had just zoned out for a second. He mentally slapped himself, angry that he had missed part of Ran's practice. He realized that he was buried in one of the seats of the theater, and so plopped himself out so that Ran would notice that he was still here.

But alas, no one.

The lights were off. He was engulfed with darkness. However, his eye managed to catch a glimpse of light, coming from behind the stage. At this point still too dazed to remember the conditions in which he fell asleep, he sought to find the person at the back of the stage so that he could find out how long he had been asleep, and when everyone in the theater had left. It surprised him that Ran would've left without him, but nonetheless he headed for the back.

As he reached the light, he began to hear some funny noises. It sounded as if there were children back there. _Children? At this time at night... _Conan disregarded the thought, and preceded to the back. He opened up a door that seemed to be where everything was coming from, and was rather shocked at what he saw before him.

Children. Loads of them. And two adults, cloaked in black attire from head to toe, complete with their own set of face masks.

One of the adults caught the attention of the other, and they both turned to look at Conan.

"Yo, boss said to get all of them.. what's the deal with this one? How come you didn't find him on the stage with the others?" The first seemed to be the one in charge, the one that had spotted Conan in the door and now seemed to scold the second.

_..On the stage with the others?_ Conan looked around the room and saw a bunch of familiar faces to the bunch of actors earlier. There was one problem with their likeness to the crowd from before. They all looked around the age of 8 or 9.

"CUT! CUT!" Conan almost jumped when he heard the high, raspy director's voice. "I said cut.. That's a rap for tonight! Is anybody listening to me?" Conan watched as he started to cry, and all Conan could do was sweat drop. _That's what you get for forcing someone into something that they don't wanna do..._ Then it occurred to him that he was forgetting someone...

"RAN!!" Conan shouted, looking around, "Ran... Ran!" A group of people that were crowded together dismantled, revealing a young looking girl. Since the last time he had seen Ran, she seemed to have shrunk a few inches, and she had her hair in pigtails. When she saw Conan, a big smile lit up on her face.

"Conan-kun!" She giggled and ran to him, embracing him in a big hug.

"Ran, what have they done to you?"

"Tee-hee!" She giggled.

"No.. Ran..." He realized that the effects for these people were unlike his in that they affected these people physically AND mentally.

The two men who had noticed Conan had then decided what they would do with him, along with the other lot of children.

"Kiddies... who wants some ice cream? And... some nice new toys?" Everyone started to go wild. Well, everyone that is except Conan. The men started to exit the door... the children following as well.

"No! They're going to hurt you!" Conan noticed that even though they were all kids, still no one seemed to pay any mind to him. How frustrating. He watched as most of them began to exit. Until finally all of them were gone. All of them except Ran.

"If you're not going, then I'm not either, Conan-kun!" She flung herself onto Conan and gave him a hug. He squeezed her tightly for a moment.

"Ran.. we have to find those men. I can't let them get away with this.."

"But how are we gonna find them? Look at me.. who's gonna listen to a kid?"

"Now you know how I feel.." Conan gave a smirk, almost half laughing.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind... listen, I know we can't do much. But we can start by going back to Dr. Agasi's lab. He'll direct us from there..."

"Okay. But Conan. Can I ask you something first?"

"Sure.. Anything."

"Can you hold my hand so I don't get scared?"

Conan smiled as he took her hand, "Of course, Ran.. now c'mon.. Let's go!"

* * *

How's that for a second chapter? Okay. Let it be known.. that this is the first second chapter that I've ever written. Yes. I know. And I've been writing for a very long time now, too.. well.. kinda.

Any ways, thanks for reading! I'll update again pretty soon!

-Chagrins


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